THE Harris Distillery will also produce a gin made using sugar kelp seaweed harvested from around the Harris coastline.

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But now trendy gin, the tipple of hipsters, is being made at a new distillery – and it’s made from sea kelp.

The £10 million Isle of Harris Distillery is now open, after a seven-year drive to establish the Hebridean island’s first commercial distillery.

Production is already underway at the distillery in East Loch Tarbert of gin, named ‘The Dotach’ after an old friend of the chairman, Anderson Bakewell.

The distinctive gin will be flavoured with sugar kelp, harvested from the seas off the island.

But whisky lovers need not fear, as the distillery is about to begin work on its single malt The Hearach, the Gaelic word for an inhabitant of Harris

The first bottling of the malt in around four years will be limited to just 1,916 bottles – the number of Harris residents.

Isle of Harris Distillers chairman Anderson Bakewell said: “I had often wondered if it would be possible to put the essence of Harris in a bottle, so a distillery was the natural answer.”

Laurence Winram

Three generations of Harris Islanders put the first peats on the fire that will burn all the time from now on at the distillery (left to right) Emma Passmore (11) of Leverburgh Primary School; John Murdo Morrison, Harris businessman and Former Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the Western Isles; Shona Macleod who works at the distillery and Niel Macleod (11) of Sir E Scott School in Tarbert.

The distillery will bring an economic boost to the remote island by providing 20 vital jobs.

The whole population of Harris was invited to a ceilidh to celebrate the opening.

“Our story is absolutely connected to island life,” said Isle of Harris Distillers Managing Director Simon Erlanger. “It’s about the people of Harris.”

To mark the opening, islanders threw peat on the fire in the distillery foyer to symbolize the warmth of Harris hospitality and reflect the flavour of whisky.

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Whisky is loved around the world and many island communities already reap benefits of having a distillery through sustaining jobs, attracting visitors and supporting tourism businesses.

“I’m delighted to see the distillery open and am sure that the whisky will develop a great reputation for quality.”

Alex Paterson, Chief Executive of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, said: “The distillery opens up a whole new area of Scotland’s whisky trail, which will draw more visitors to Tarbert and further afield to experience the many other attractions that Harris has to offer.”